Conference papers

28 APR 2018

An investigation into the overhang of affordable housing in Malaysia

Housing provides safety, comfort, positive experiences, satisfaction, and convenience to home occupants. Furthermore, it is also a source of wealth for many households. Despite the fact that housing is not affordable in Malaysia, unsold properties and overhangs are high and on an increasing trend. Therefore, the present research seeks to provide answers to a basic policy question namely, why affordable housing overhang is high, given the low home ownership rate in Malaysia.

To provide answers to this question, a cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 30 factors and 150 participants, which included developers, contractors and design teams. Kaiser's Measure of Sampling Adequacy indicated that the strength of the relationships among the causes was strong (MSA =0.772).

Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (χ2(351) = 2070.057, p<0.001), which indicated the data was drawn from the same population and that the causes were related. The results from the data analysis revealed that five major causes of overhang were: restrictions in applying for bank loans (4.16), a lack of household confidence on future housing values (4.07), a rise in living costs (4.05), unsuitable housing neighbourhoods (4.00) and an increase in housing prices (3.97).

The present research provides fresh insight into the difficulties that affordable house buyer’s face and the factors that impact their levels of satisfaction. The findings will be useful to policy makers, urban planners and developers.